Page 98 of Then She Vanished

He nodded frantically. ‘I stopped them before any more could go out. It was Stephen.’

‘What’s happening with him now?’

‘Like the others, he has one hell of a virus. I don’t think his tech will be good for much.’

Her stomach felt like a stone was lying in it. ‘What if it happens again, with your site?’

‘Like I said, I want a quiet life in Devon. I will do what I can to help.’ He paused and rubbed his stubble. ‘I’ve upheld my end of the bargain, Gina. I need to know I’m safe to leave here and live my life without the threat of you tarnishing my reputation. The woman I live with, I love her. I want a chance to start again. When I go home, I’m going to ask her to marry me and I am going to be the best husband ever. I’m not the man you knew back then. Everyone deserves another chance.’

He’d done as asked. She hurried up the stairs to retrieve the memory stick that she had hidden under the floorboards, then returned downstairs and passed it to him.

‘How can I trust you? You might have copies.’

‘I don’t.’

He snatched it from her and closed his laptop, leaving them both in darkness. Opening the back door, he stepped out into the garden. He stood there, staring.

‘What is it, Pete? You have what you want. You can go now.’

Shaking his head, he roared. ‘I never wanted any of this.’ He let out a nervous laugh.

She paused and watched. His expression changed to relief, but she couldn’t ignore the smirk forming across his face. Her heart sunk. She’d been played by him in the vilest of ways. ‘This was all you, wasn’t it, Pete?’

‘You made me do it. You made me start all that up again, just to get that stick. Don’t you think it was convenient no one ever came to your house, or that only your boss, the one you’re shagging, got a message?’ He began to pace. ‘I’m sorry, I read all your messages. You should change your personal phone number and email and not use passwords that are so obvious a five-year-old could guess them. But, I am sorry for everything.’

She felt her tense fingers reach the chopping board, and on top of that board was a knife. No one knew Pete was at her house. She could plunge it into him and bury him in her garden. She was angry enough to do it.

She gripped the handle and then let go. Terry was a necessity, but Pete was just a disappointment – one she would have to live with. ‘I actually trusted you.’ She let out a nervous laugh. ‘There is no cutesy cottage or girlfriend. You lied again, didn’t you?’

He nodded. ‘Gina, we both survive because we’re really good liars. We’re more alike than you think. All we want is to survive.’

‘I am nothing like you.’

‘Keep telling yourself that. A liar knows a liar. I have to go. Enjoy your life.’ He headed towards the end of her garden where she was sure he was going to leave over the fence. ‘Oh, I do have something for you because I’m not the total bastard you think I am. Like you, self-preservation made me do it.’ He blew out a big breath and walked back to her. ‘I’m a pro at what I do, and at the end of the day, I want to do something good. I heard what you said about doing the right thing when it came to White Knight, and it felt just a little bit good to help. It warmed my ice-coldheart for just a second and it felt right. If you need assistance with any sickos on the dark web, or you need information, you have my number. I owe you, so use me. Here, I got this from Stephen ages ago. He must have had it from Terry. He wanted me to publish it everywhere, but I couldn’t.’ He thrust something into her hand and walked away.

As he scurried over the fence, she let Ebony in and slammed the door. She grabbed the knife and stabbed it through the photo of herself, piercing the chopping board underneath.

Terry was the horrible gift that kept on giving, but she was no longer that scared young, pregnant woman, bound and blindfolded in a shed.

She pulled the knife out of the photo and roared as she tore it up, not wanting to ever see that side of herself again.

EPILOGUE

Early November

As Gina drove to the candlelit vigil at the church, she couldn’t help but think of the case, in fact, she’d thought of not much else over the past few weeks. At some point, the remains would be released and the families would be able to arrange funerals. They’d never managed to find any relatives of Joanie Callahan, so Gina had decided she would attend her funeral.

Bernard had found a note in one of Eric’s jacket pockets in the unit. Gina mulled over its contents in her head, trying to make sense of it all. It had been a suicide note from Albie. Albie had been scared of being around Luna, as he was unsure whether he could control his desire as she developed into a woman, despite her being his daughter. He’d done all he could to protect himself and Luna from the outside world by keeping her in the bunker, safe and belonging to him, but she was no longer safe because of him. His only option had been to end his life, to protect her from the monster he knew he was. Albie had also been angry. He’d found out about his mother, Joanie, and insisted that they mark the graves behind the bunker. In thenote, Albie wrote about Eric confessing to Albie that Joanie had died of an infection and that he couldn’t take her to the hospital as she would have told the police about him. After all those years of believing that Joanie had abandoned him, he then knew the truth. Albie expressed how angry and upset he was with his father in the scrawled letter. Gina turned onto the high street as she then thought about Keeley.

The last thing Albie chose to write about was how much he wanted Keeley to be Luna’s mother and protector. He’d met her onsite at the Moores’ renovation and saw how much of a good mother she was to her two boys. It was his last wish that Keeley was taken to be Luna’s mother. He explained that he was sick of arguing with Eric, because Eric thought that Ruth needed to be a mother more than anything because he had Elissa.

Gina thought about Calvin Harris and that Calvin’s daughter had told them that the man they now knew to be Albie was telling Calvin he had a severely disabled young daughter he always had to be on hand for. Felicity wasn’t his daughter but Gina knew that Albie would have done his best to throw people off the scent of missing Felicity. Also having the cover of a disabled daughter who needed him would give him the pass he needed to leave work at any time. The lies were all part of the game, just like they were with Eric; all woven to deflect any suspicion towards either of them.

Replaying her interview with Moira Moore after being run off the road, Moira confirmed Elissa’s version of events and she, too, came clean with her husband about continuing the affair she told him she’d ended. She failed to tell them that Elissa had caused the accident as she wasn’t ready to confess to them and naming Elissa at the time would have opened up that conversation before she was ready to have it.

Moira had also spoken about some of the conversations she’d had with Eric; that she’d tell Eric how much she loved her daughter-in-law, Keeley, and what a good mother she was.

Eric had honoured Albie’s wishes and tried to snatch Keeley first but had failed, so he’d gone with his own plan. After all, he’d been playing games with Gary and Ruth for weeks. It was all about the game for him, whether it be chess or ruining lives.

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